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This makes me think of something that I encounter sometimes. I'm a museum docent who gives art museum tours to school age children. As you know, art museums are chock full of nudity and of course these images are impossible to slip by without the kids gravitating to them.
The most effective way to deal this this is in a straightforward and immediate way..."don't be embarrassed, we all have bodies, blah, blah..artists think the body is beautiful, blah, blah..
I would just say to the neighborhood kids something like, "Try not to be embarrassed by little junior. You know how kids are sometimes. He just hasn't learned yet not to be taking his clothes off in front of people."
As others have said, it seems strange that anyone would be freaked out by the sight of a naked two year old. It sounds like they have issues that are in play here, but you have no control over that.
It sounds as though the neighbor's kids have some kind of nudity phobia. I would ask your children not to bring them home until the little one has learned not to totally strip down when going potty. Their reactions may hinder the little one, because the little one is enjoying the attention.
Exactly! The toddler is acting normal and not in any way inappropriately. The other kids may be acting "normal", too, relative to the norms in their household, but that doesn't mean the OP should cater to them.
I totally agree. Good Lord, it's just a two year old. If the neighbor kids are offended....tell them to go home.
Ok, I have a almost 3, 10 and 11 year old boys. We are in the midst of potty training the little one. He is doing rather well with it except for the fact that he needs to be butt naked to go sit on the potty. It doesn't bother me at this point, whatever works for now so that he will go.
Here is the problem, he will strip naked where ever he is at and bolt to the bathroom no matter who is there. The neighbor kids who are aged 8-11 absolutely freak out over this. They make a huge deal over the fact that a little toddler is naked. I am trying not to make an issue over this but I don't want my son to develop a phobia or something. When it has happened I tell them he is 2 not a big deal but doesn't seem to matter.
Am I making a mountain out of a molehill or should I be concerned. I know it is silly but I am not sure how to approach it. Never had this issue before.
It's hard enough to potty train a child. Don't worry about the neighbors kids. Oh boy, you should see what I do when I get a hot flash!
Thanks for the support everyone. I was beginning to think I had the problem. When my older kids were little I just threw them out in the backyard in their underwear with the training toilet and let them play all summer long. Never had any of these kinds of problems before.
To the OP,
Speaking as the youngest of 6 kid, the Aunt of 4, and a Mother of 2 one of which I'm in the process of potty-training (I feel your pain)... my first thought is that perhaps the visiting children don't have younger siblings, if they did they would probably understand that this is NORMAL behavior. Now my son doesn't strip down to nothing on the way to the bathroom, but he sees nothing wrong with coming out naked. Children this age... well most children this age don’t understand modesty. I would simply explain it to visitors, "we're potty-training, he doesn't yet understand ...”. Sheesh this is like complaining that a 2-3 year old doesn't understand proper dinner table etiquette, he is learning that people dispose of waste in a toilet, which is a huge set.
Give me a break! Some of the responses to your OP were overboard to say the least.
Ok, I have a almost 3, 10 and 11 year old boys. We are in the midst of potty training the little one. He is doing rather well with it except for the fact that he needs to be butt naked to go sit on the potty. It doesn't bother me at this point, whatever works for now so that he will go.
Here is the problem, he will strip naked where ever he is at and bolt to the bathroom no matter who is there. The neighbor kids who are aged 8-11 absolutely freak out over this. They make a huge deal over the fact that a little toddler is naked. I am trying not to make an issue over this but I don't want my son to develop a phobia or something. When it has happened I tell them he is 2 not a big deal but doesn't seem to matter.
Am I making a mountain out of a molehill or should I be concerned. I know it is silly but I am not sure how to approach it. Never had this issue before.
Your toddler sounds absolutely normal and very cute. The neighbors' kids are behaving badly, showing off. In psychological terms they are distancing themselves from the 'baby' they recently were, and trying to prove how 'grown-up' they are now. Yes, riduculous I know but that's how kids' minds work!
Maybe you could, in a friendly way, ask the parents of the neighbors' kids for advice on how they dealt with potty-training their own children. Then you could (again in a friendly way) mention to these kids that you have heard how they learned to do what your son is now doing and how well they did......gently reminding them to be sympathetic. It will also let them know you are in contact with their mother, that they should behave (!!) and that next time she might tell you something really embarassing for them!!!!!!
The neighbor children probably come from homes where nudity isn't discussed or seen, at all, and they're uncomfortable with it. Also, at their ages, they're probably embarrassed by it - that 'ewwww' factor.
However, what your son is doing isn't wrong at all. It's HIS house, he's only 2, and I don't see the problem. I'd agree with another poster who said that if the neighbor children are uncomfortable, I'd tell them they were welcome to step outside, or in another room.
Um.... the neighbor's children are 7 and 8. Saying "EWWWWWWW" is what 7 and 8 year olds do. Also laughing at body-image things and words. I used to run around without my shirt on until I was 5 or 6 (I am a girl) in the summer when it was very hot. I had very short hair and could pass as a boy. My best friend was a boy and he got to go without his shirt on. I was JEALOUS! but by age 6 it just stopped because I suddenly understood that girls don't go around without their shirts on in public.
The 7 and 8 (and 6 year olds) are just mimicking what society teaches us. Saying "eww" is just their expression of it. Its not over reacting. If they are desperately throwing clothes on your toddler to cover him up, or if they are crying hysterically at the sight of his nudity - that is over reacting. But laughing and saying "ew" and saying "gross - he's naked" ... that's just them being LITTLE KIDS who are fast becoming bigger kids.
And if your 2 year old is oblivious to it, he's fine. Its not going to damage him. When he's 3-4 to 5 he'll be subconciously paying attention to it, and one day, if he's a normal healthy child who can pick up on environmental cues, it'll just stop. Because he'll be older and realize that he's now "too old" to run around naked..
ITA with briola21. I think it sounds like typical behavior for all the kids involved, both the 2 year old and the neighbor's kids. Even my teenagers laugh and make squeamish faces when our 4 year old runs around naked. It's just normal for kids to make a little fun of one another in intimate circumstances. The phrase "bathroom humor" comes to my mind; it doesn't mean anyone is being disrespectful, they are just amused. I think the adults might be analyzing the sitation far more than any of the kids involved are.
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